Passionate and proactive community advocate Marni Fedeyko has announced her candidacy for town council today.

Fedeyko wants to bring her energy and ideas to the table and a huge part of that is engaging with the community and bringing people together. She's not being afraid to look outside the box for solutions to make that possible.

"I am passionate about the community," says Fedeyko. "Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to connect with all sorts and people and ultimately I believe I can make a difference."

Hers is a positive campaign and it centres on engagement, accountability, and connections, words she believes are essential for a town councillor.

"Some of the things that I hear through feedback are that people don't really feel listened to sometimes and their voice doesn't matter and that's where I can use some of my skills to be able to provide that voice for them and be able to take it forward in a very non bias way."

She cringes when she hears a successful town open house means 40 people attended and believes the town can do much better.

Fedeyko believes they need to meet where the people are and that includes going into the communities and having a more meaningful connection on social media.

"One thing I would love to see is being able to go to the people rather than having the people come to us. I think my role as a councillor is to meet people on their terms not have them meet me on my terms."

She also sees merit in adding a third monthly council meeting and that could help facilitate more public engagement, like allowing a half hour open mic where residents can come without an appointment to address their concerns.

"I think once you give people a voice in the community, people won't be as upset as they may be about some issues. I think some of their issues are because they feel like they aren't being heard or that their voice doesn't count for anything. The biggest thing is that everybody here has to have a voice. It doesn't matter what that group is, everybody has to be heard."

She doesn't pretend the role of a councillor is easy, but improving those connections can help turn around the negativity.

"There's nothing worse than listening to the negativity of everything that's wrong about Cochrane; I'd rather concentrate on what's good about Cochrane."

Like other candidates and residents, she knows the frustration of traffic congestion, but she also realizes they will be difficult to solve.

"With a river, CP Rail and two provincial highways, it is tough to wave a magic wand and solve all our issues."

But that doesn't mean it's time to surrender and the town needs to tweak traffic flow. That includes looking at transit in a realistic form and even consider looking at ride sharing opportunities. She also believes there is merit in working with Rocky View Schools to consider staggering school start times in some neighbourhoods to reduce traffic congestion.

"There are plans in place to help in the long-term, but I fear there will be more frustrations in the years ahead as residents await key infrastructure projects to wrap up."

She shares the concern of the number of empty retail buildings and long-standing businesses that have closed in the community. She wants to see the town work with small independent businesses that are at our heart and soul and are major supporters of community events. In fact, many of them wouldn't happen without their help.

"We need to create a place where people live and play so they keep money in Cochrane."

Part of that, too, is to work with community groups in offering vibrant weekend activities to keep people in town. She says young families tend to leave town on weekends when there's nothing to keep them here and that means they're spending their money elsewhere.

She's a realist and isn't afraid to recognize Cochrane is becoming a small city. Keeping this in mind, she believes we need to advocate now for services we'll need in the future. 

"We're becoming a small city with a Western Heritage. We're no longer a small town, we've surpassed that. We've allowed that to happen, so we can't go back in time. That's why we need to advocate for services we'll need. If we wait we're going to be in trouble down the road."

Public safety is one of those major concerns and she believes it's time to start pushing for a 24/7 Urgent Care Centre. She says Cochrane is well under the national standard for the ratio of police officers and more members need to be added. She also wants to help ensure our fire department has the adequate resources in our sprawling community to meet their goal of an eight-minute response time, currently met 90 per cent of the time. That means considering satellite hubs in the future.

"It's getting difficult for them to make their way through traffic now, never mind when the construction project starts on Hwy. 1A and 22. It's not necessarily that they need a secondary spot now but they did the close the station in Sunset, which could have been a satellite hub in the future. We need to advocate for it so we're ready down the road."

Fedeyko is well known for her involvement in the community and has worked with others to nurture many successful community endeavours. She has co-chaired Cochrane Light Up the last four years and in the past has also co-chaired both the SummerFest and WinterFest of Cochrane and Areas Events Society. She helped coordinate two years of Community Garbage Cleanup and co-founded Women Empowering Women. She was named Cochrane's Citizen of the Year in 2016.

Fedeyko is one of the founding forces of CochraneNow.com and as such is taking a leave of absence from her position, although a few of her remaining stories may appear over the next few days.

"Being a news reporter in Cochrane has enabled me to learn that much more about Cochrane, obviously, but to also really connect more with the people that live here. Cochrane has some amazing people and my goal as a councillor would only be able to build upon that and make it that much better."

"Now is the time to make Cochrane great for my family, your family, and future families of Cochrane."

You can connect with Fedeyko here.